Running is a Victory
by Gakorogirl
Summary: A season of Doctor Who, written as close to the style of the show as I can manage, with a female Doctor. Episode suggestions are welcome, and so are ideas for companions. Updates on Saturdays, as often as I can handle. I hope you like it! R E V I E W P L E A S E
1. The Star Dragons

**Putting some A/N first since this is a super long chapter thing- ok, welcome to the very first episode/chapter of _Running is a Victory, _my Doctor Who fanfic. You probably came here from tumblr. As you might be able to guess, the Doctor here is either number thirteen or fourteen, but that's not super important. What's important is that I'll try to update this fic with a new episode on alternate Saturdays, and it was basically inspired by me thinking about how the diversity of characters has gone down... basically since Moffat took charge of the show. Also for the record, it's the person that I dislike, not so much the writing.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The boy opened the door to his flat. "Mom? I'm back!"

"That's great, Alex..." echoed a voice from the kitchen. "You want to come in here and mix the cake batter?"

"All right, here I come!" Alex called, dumping his backpack onto a chair. He wasn't quite tall enough to reach the bowl of cake batter, so he picked it up and sat on the floor to stir. "We got our essays graded today," he said. His mother's attention was diverted, focused on salt and eggs and flour. "That's nice, honey."

"I got an A."

"Oh, that's nice." she said, her hands still dancing between the cabinets. Suddenly, Alex whimpered and held his hands to his head. "Mom, I don't feel too good- can I go upstairs?"

"Sure, just be sure and get the rest of your homework done."

Holding his head, Alex Timeus sprinted through the dining room into the bathroom. It was happening again- his vision blurred and interlocking circles swirled across his vision. When he looked up through the haze, his pupils were burning silver.

THE STAR DRAGONS

(written by Gakorogirl)

The Doctor needed something to eat, and soon. Why did regenerating _always _make her hungry? She'd checked her reflection a few minutes before- _still _not ginger. But a girl, and that was new too. And curly dark hair that was almost as nice as River's had been, and all the right fingers and toes and two eyes and skin a little lighter than her hair. "I can't keep wearing the suit- it's far too big." she muttered, flapping the loose sleeves as she headed for the vast TARDIS wardrobe. What sort of clothes did she have in here, anyway? It had been years since she'd really looked into the wardrobe. Fez?

"No _way." _

Plain white button-down shirt. Bomber jacket. Not jeans, something else. And did the jeans even _have _pockets? Cargo pants, maybe? Boots. High boots that laced up. Good. She reached into the pockets of the old suit jacket and started swapping them into her new pockets. As she picked it up, the psychic paper fell open- and something began to appear. Letters of Gallifreyan, swirling across the page. _Doctor. Doctor._

_Dragons in the stars. _And- spacetime coordinates. Perfect ones.

Food would have to wait. The Doctor ran back into the control room, rapidly flicking switches and dialing in numbers.

* * *

Natalie Timeus opened the door to some very persistent knocking. She'd been just about to frost Alex's cake- he'd had enough trouble this week, getting sick so often. And to top it off they hadn't had enough money to go to his favorite restaurant for his birthday. "Yes?" she said, trying to keep the edge out of her voice. There was a small, cheerful-looking, and rather sloppily dressed woman probably a few years younger than she was standing on the doorstep holding- a glowing metal thing. "Are you selling something?" Natalie asked, just as the other woman, beaming, announced, "Hello there! I'm the Doctor."

"I didn't ask for a doctor."

"Do you have a child?" the other woman said cheerfully.

"Yes, Alex, but he's- he's perfectly all right," Natalie said as she stepped in front of the doctor woman to keep her from walking right into the house. "And you can't come in, I don't even know what your _name _is!"

"I told you already- it's the Doctor."

"...and?"

"Just that. The Doctor." That wasn't the most suspicious thing Natalie had ever heard, but it didn't sound like a name at all. "Natalie Timeus," she said cautiously. Behind her, Alex screamed.

Whipping around, Natalie ran into Alex's room. She was vaguely aware of the Doctor right on her heels, but ignored her. Alex was sitting up in bed with his fingers laced tightly over his eyes as he rocked back and forth, slowly whimpering words.

_"Doctor. Doctor."_

"You need medicine?" Natalie asked anxiously.

_"NO. Doctor. Dragons. He-e-elp!" _"Do _something!_" Natalie shouted, turning on the Doctor. The Doctor ruffled her hair and sat down on the corner of the bed. "Alex? Alex, can you hear me?" Alex, still whimpering, slowly unknitted his fingers and lowered his hands to reveal wild, silver eyes. "_Dragons in the stars. Help." _

"Okay then, not Alex. The thing inside Alex, the thing that's starting to come through. This is the Doctor, what do you want? And, Alex, if you can hear me try and relax." _"You are not the Doctor," _a harsh voice whispered. "Yes I am. What're you going to do, request a new one?"

_"I am the spirit of one of the star dragons. Our pod has been besieged and we needed to find help quickly. I volunteered to give up my body and travel to find the Doctor. Many on this world hold the memory of you. I brushed the mind of one woman whose memories were locked away."_

"Is she all right?" the Doctor asked, narrowing her eyes.

_"Yes. I did not disturb the memories. You must help us, Doctor. I can use the body of the child to give you the spacetime coordinates for our pod."_

"You said you were under attack, what's attacking you? What could have a chance against a pod of star dragons?"

_"We carry in our chests our power source, the star core." _"Yes, I know that. The power of a miniature, living star, inside the heart of a dragon. Very poetic."

_"And you also know that if enough cores were... extracted, and fused together, it would produce a controlled explosion strong enough to destroy a planet?"_

"That... I was not aware of. So, what's trying to get the cores, and how could it?"

_"The Daleks, Doctor. The Daleks are coming for the star cores. We have our defenses, but they have nearly been breached. I do not know what you could do to help, but if the Daleks gather the cores of my whole pod then they will have the power to destroy many planets, or if they have already destroyed other pods, to summon the power of a controlled black hole."_

"And this day just keeps getting better and better," the Doctor grumbled as Alex's body began to shake again. "What are the coordinates?"

Alex's small hand fumbled for a pen lying next to his bed, and a scrap of paper. As the Doctor watched intently, he scribbled a set of coordinates on the paper and dropped it, falling back onto the mattress. Natalie picked it up and handed it to the Doctor, who tucked it into a pocket of her jacket. "What- what happened to Alex? That wasn't his normal voice. Here, let me get you something to eat. Or some tea?"

"That would be great. You have any chocolate? Or something with loads of sugar in it, I need that. New face, and it makes everything work funny right after I change."

"What?"

"Nothing. There's something inside your son's mind- it's not aggressive, and it'll leave soon. But it's alien, and he'll be very shaken up after it leaves."

"_What?" _"Look, this is out of your range of experience, but Alex isn't going to be himself for a few days even after the star dragon moves on. Thank you, perfect." the Doctor added, taking a large bite out of the chocolate bar she was handed. "I've got the coordinates now, let me just get that dragon out of Alex's brain and I'll be out of your way."

Leaning forwards, the Doctor rested her forehead on the top of Alex's head. "Star dragon? I've got the coordinates, you're going to have to leave now."

_"My energy will disperse and I will move on if I go. I wish to see if our pod is saved. I will stay at the back of the human's mind._

"No. You're going to hurt him if you stay in there any longer." Closing her eyes, she pushed on the essence of the star dragon. "I _promise _you that I will save your pod, but you _have _to leave his mind. It's not built for something as big as you."

"_I will leave," _the star dragon murmured softly. The presence of it that the Doctor could feel dissolved, and when Alex blinked again his eyes were green, not star-silver.

* * *

Natalie realized that the Doctor was standing up and getting ready to leave, fishing around for the coordinates. "You can't leave yet!"

"Why not?"

"Because- because you can't just go off without any explanation, something just _took over my son!_"

_"_I got it to leave, your son should be fine. I've got to run now, sorry-"

"I want to come," Alex said from the bed. "I saw you through its eyes. I talked to it for a little while. It said you were a leaf in the wind, that you can travel through time? And you help people. I want to come with you."

The Doctor hesitated, tugging on a coil of hair. It really _was _very soft, but it got in her eyes. She'd have to tie it back at some point. "I suppose you can come, but you'll have to be careful-"

"He can't _just leave with you," _Natalie snarled. "At the very least, I'm coming too."

Just perfect, that the two people getting involved in this were the kind of people who wouldn't just push something to the backs of their heads and be done with it. "All right," the Doctor said. "This way." She walked out of the flat, then doubled back to get the rest of her chocolate bar. "I should be eating something more healthy but I've got the rest of my life to do that- and that's a few hundred years at least."

_"What?" _They were almost down the stairs, and the Doctor made a sharp turn to the left and onto the street. "I'm not from Earth, I'm a time-travelling alien with two hearts. That answer your question?"

"That's brilliant!" Alex gasped. "What planet are you from? Can we go there? How many parsecs away is it?"

"Uh. Gallifrey. But- it's not there anymore."

"Oh. Sorry."

The TARDIS was right ahead. "Is that an old... phone booth?" Natalie asked.

"Sort of, yes." The Doctor always loved it when people first saw the interior, and she might have flung open the doors with a little too much flair- the TARDIS whirred disapprovingly as she entered.

"Sorry." she muttered up at the ceiling. Maybe I should've just snapped.

"This is _brilliant!" _Alex gasped. Natalie was too busy gaping at the control room. "How- how does it _work?"_

The Doctor was already at the console, programming in the coordinates. "Alex, come over here? Grab that lever- no, the one next to it- and slide it sideways?" Alex slid the lever. "All the way?"

"Just two steps."

"Got it!" The TARDIS rattled and hummed as they launched into the vortex. "Natalie, could you hold that button down? The green one."

Looking at it nervously, Natalie placed a finger on the button and held it down. The TARDIS stabilized rapidly. "And let go of it, there," the Doctor said. "We should be at the coordinates about now- I'm extending the oxygen bubble. Anyone want to look outside?"

"I will!" Alex said, running over to the doors. "So I can just open them?"

"Go ahead."

"_Whoa." _

* * *

The TARDIS was floating in a vast expanse of space, and Alex could see more stars than he ever had in his life. Probably every night put together wouldn't make this many stars. "It looks like liquid glitter," he said to the Doctor.

"Brilliant, right?" she answered. "See the star dragons?"

They were bigger than anything he'd ever imagined- bigger than the creature that had hatched from the moon, even. It took him a few minutes to process how _huge _they were, indigo and silver rivers creeping across the sky. One turned, slowly drifting towards them. Its chest glowed brilliant white-yellow, too bright to stare at. "Is it going to run over us?" Alex asked, suddenly worried.

"Nope. It can sense the energy in the TARDIS."

The star dragon's voice rumbled in all of their heads. _Are you the Doctor?_

The Doctor closed her eyes, her forehead wrinkling. "How should we talk to it?" Alex's mother asked. "I've already told it." replied the Doctor, opening her eyes.

_Doctor, _the star dragon said, _the Daleks are coming- they broke through our energy shields. They will be here in around thirty minutes._

* * *

**Aaand that's a wrap! If you've read this far I'm honestly proud of you. I know not too much happened in this chapter, the next one'll be lots more exciting. I should be able to publish it sooner, since it's the next bit of a two-part.**

** Suggestions for companions and episodes are totally welcome, as are reviews!**


	2. Beauty Like the Night

**Early update, since I won't be able to get wifi until Sunday. Enjoy!**

_The Daleks are coming. _The star dragon rumbled. Its eye was large enough by far to hold the reflection of the TARDIS like a mirror. "What are Daleks?" Alex asked quietly. They sounded _bad. _And the Doctor looked- angry, maybe. Or scared. She didn't respond, too busy in a silent conversation with the star dragon.

If something scared a woman who talked to dragons and traveled through time, Alex didn't want to see it. He was about to ask the Doctor about it when the star dragon, which had somehow sensed his question, turned its crushing presence towards him. _Small one, you bear the mark of our kind._

Alex thought back as hard as he could, _There was one of you inside me. It hurt, but I don't think it meant to. It was just- so big._

_Yes. I can hear you, _the star dragon thought. A ripple that might have been a smile spread across its vast face, but quickly vanished as it continued. _Daleks are the enemy of all life. Their only purpose is to kill, and they are coming here now. _

That sounded- really. Incredibly. Bad. Especially since the star dragon that was in Alex had said something about the glowing things inside their chests, and the power to destroy a planet. "So- what are we going to do?" Natalie asked the Doctor, worried. Her hands crept up onto Alex's shoulders and squeezed.

"I don't know yet," the Doctor said quietly.

* * *

BEAUTY LIKE THE NIGHT

(by gakorogirl)

* * *

"All right then," the Doctor said. "Why isn't there ever, you know, a few _days _to save creation? Why is it always an hour, or twenty minutes, or thirty minutes?"

_Can you do anything? _The star dragon wanted to know. The blazing light radiating from its core dimmed slightly. The Doctor wondered if it was intentional or an unconscious reaction. "_I'll think of something,"_ she thought to it. "_I promised_." The star dragon broadcasted a general feeling of uncertainty. "And I am _just that good." _

I hope.

Appeased, the star dragon swam into the distance. As the light faded, the Doctor could see the glittering expanse of the night sky again. Running her hands through her hair- it was going to take a little while to get used to long hair again- she said, "The Daleks will be in spaceships- but the dragons won't have much energy to fight back, they've spent most of their energy on the shields that are gone now. Any ideas?"

"Is this what you do all the time?" Natalie asked, still staring at the stars outside the TARDIS door and holding tightly to Alex. "Travel around and protect things?"

"Pretty much." The Doctor answered. "I do other stuff sometimes- go visit places, see new things. You wouldn't think there'd be too many new things left in the universe, but I always manage to find something."

_The Daleks are coming, Doctor._

"Okay, here's the plan. I'm going to try and stall the Daleks."

"And?" Natalie asked.

"That's the plan. I haven't finished yet. But it's going to be _brilliant." _Turning and broadcasting her thoughts towards the star dragon, she told it, "_Tell them the Doctor is here."_

_Are you sure?_

_"Yes."_

* * *

"There's a beeping thing," Alex said, looking at the TARDIS console. There was a small, flashing green light making a very persistent beep. The Doctor turned to the console with a few quick steps and flipped a switch. Immediately, the crackling voice of a Dalek filled the control room.

"GIVE IN, DOCTOR. THIS IS NOT YOUR FIGHT. THE STAR DRAGONS WILL BE EXTERMINATED." The metallic voice made Alex cringe and begin to raise his hands to his ears. "That was a Dalek?" he asked nervously. "Are they robots?"

"You'd better watch out, Dalek," the Doctor said. "As long as there's danger, as long as _your kind _is here, it is my fight. And I've already been told your plan- put the star cores into some kind of machine, fire it at anything in your way? Or maybe, a black hole, you'd just have to have a way to move it." Turning to Alex, she mumbled, "Sort of."

"THE DOCTOR WILL LEAVE," the Dalek screeched more aggressively. _The invasion fleet has stopped, Doctor, _one of the star dragons reported. _They are waiting._

"The Doctor will not," she snapped. "And if you want to get those star cores you're going to have to go through _me _first."

"THE POWER OF THE DALEKS WILL NOT BE DENIED! THE STAR DRAGONS WILL BE EXTERMINATED! WE WILL CAPTURE THE STAR CORES!" Sighing, the Doctor leaned forwards. "If you're going to _talk_ so much, why don't you tell me what you're planning to do with those cores? Black hole, or planetary death ray? Did I guess it?" Quietly, Natalie muttered, "This doesn't seem like much of a plan." She had backed as far away from the door as possible, attempting to pull Alex with her.

"THE DOCTOR IS _WRONG!" _the Dalek proclaimed triumphantly. "THE DOCTOR IS WRONG- THE DALEKS WILL NOT USE THE STAR CORES. WE WILL GIVE THEM TO ANOTHER POWER, ONE THAT HAS PROMISED US THE EXTERMINATION OF THE _UNIVERSE_!"

_The dalek fleet is beginning to move again, _the same star dragon warned. _They will be here shortly. _

_"Okay, okay, I'm working on a plan. Get the whole dragon pod to circle around the TARDIS." _The Doctor rubbed her forehead- it was easier to think to the star dragons than to other, less receptive lifeforms, but it was beginning to give her a headache.

* * *

Turning back to speak to the Dalek again, she asked, "What power? Surely not something _stronger _than the _Daleks?" _

"THE CAMAZOTZ IS MERELY A TOOL OF THE DALEKS. THE DALEKS ARE SUPREME!"

The Doctor snapped her fingers. "Camazotz, where have I heard that before? Camazotz, _Camazotz. _By the way, you are a _stupid _Dalek, aren't you? You just told me your entire plan."

"THE DOCTOR WILL BE EXTERMINATED!"

Alex was waving his hands in the corner of her eye. "What is it, Alex? And Dalek, just shut up for a minute?"

Alex said, "Camazotz is what the planet's called in _A Wrinkle in Time. _And then I looked it up, 'cause I thought I'd seen it mentioned somewhere else, too. It's a bat-god thing. From the Aztecs or something."

"That's not- ideal." A giant bat monster. That the Daleks were working for. Last time the Daleks had been controlled by something else-

"I have a plan. The plan is finished." The Doctor said, cutting off the communications with the Dalek fleet. Projecting her thoughts to the star dragon she had been conversing with earlier, she asked it, _"How large are your largest dragons?"_

_Our oldest, the pod-mother, is twice the size of myself. At a guess, I would say that she is the size of the planet Earth, perhaps slightly larger. _

_"Right then, is she nearby?"_

_All of us have gathered around your time travel cube. Look outside and you will see us. _Stepping around the TARDIS console, the Doctor glanced out the door. It looked as if the night sky were moving, seething with countless coils of dragon. Their cores were dim with fear, and from what she could see of their massive heads, streams of plasma were roiling across their indigo and black hides.

_"Here's the plan- the lot of you can bend spacetime with your collective mass. I'm going to use the TARDIS to punch a hole into the vortex, and your mass will hold open the rift long enough to evacuate. I'll take you somewhere safe, and we'll do the same thing to get out of the vortex. The pod-mother needs to go last, to make sure the rift is warped open wide enough for everyone to get through." _Her head was definitely buzzing now.

Out loud, she said, "Natalie, Alex, hang on to something. Actually no, Natalie, with your free hand can you grab that lever next to you? Good work, now just hold it still and when I say _now _pull down on it. All the way down."

Closing the TARDIS doors, the Doctor ran for the console and began frantically spinning wheels and tugging levers. She'd have to make a messy break if the dragons were going to be able to break through into the vortex.

_Doctor, the Dalek Fleet is here._

_"All right, all of you stick together," _the Doctor thought back, dematerializing the TARDIS and launching it into the Time Vortex. Everything rattled, and Alex was thrown to the floor. Lunging across the shaking TARDIS, the Doctor grabbed him and set him back on his feet. "Hold onto that rail!" she shouted as she ran back to the console and began adjusting three levers at once.

_We are in the vortex._ The star dragon thought to her._ I am not sure how much longer we can maintain interior stability in this environment._

"All right, just hang on!" the Doctor called. Spacetime coordinates were scrolling past next to her. "Natalie, pull the lever!"

"Got it!"

* * *

Behind the spinning TARDIS, thirty massive star dragons swam through the fabric of time, their sides heaving as they tried to maintain their cores in the unfamiliar environment. _Are you ready, Doctor? _The mouthpiece dragon asked.

_"Here we go!"_

The TARDIS punched a ragged hole into the stars, and the dragons followed, shouldering their massive heads and coils back into reality. The last star dragon, the pod mother, slithered through, and the rift slid shut.

* * *

Three years in the future, and several light-years away. Hopefully that would be enough to protect the star dragons from the Dalek fleet, since any longer would result in some of the pod being lost in the vortex.

_"Everyone still there?" _The Doctor thought as she punched the TARDIS back into material space. The mainframe shuddered and jolted, and the Doctor listened for the cloister bell. "No bell? Brilliant."

_We are all alive, although shaken. When are we?_

_"Three years- oh wait, four, sorry- from when you left, and here we are in nebula NGC6886." _the Doctor replied, adding to herself, "And I really am _just that good."_

Reengaging the slight extension of the oxygen bubble, the Doctor opened the door and looked out at the sky. "Alex, Natalie, come here. Look how _amazing _it is." The dragons were beginning to swim off into the sky, their star cores burning brilliantly. The sky itself was even more beautiful than it had been in the old pod territory- sparkling with young blue stars from the formation of the nebula.

"That's brilliant," Alex gasped. "But what happened to the Daleks?"

"They'll fly off somewhere else, I expect, and I'll have to go and stop them again. The real question is, what is the _Camazotz?" _

_Doctor, _said the star dragon. The Doctor had recognized that she had only communicated with two star dragons since arriving in the pod, and this was the first she had spoken to, as well as the one who had guided the others through the vortex. _You have a new face, and it is a different one from those you have used before. But I knew you as soon as I felt your energy, as old as starlight, and twice as bright, and a thousand times as alone._

_You are a starlight woman, child of Gallifrey. Thank you for your aid._

"_It's what I do," _the Doctor replied, smiling. She allowed Natalie and Alex a few more minutes to stare out at the shining expanse of stars before she snapped her fingers and the TARDIS doors swung shut.

"I expect I'll drop you off back home now," she said. "Natalie, Alex, a pleasure."

"I have to get back anyway, I'm making snacks for a party tomorrow," Natalie said with a note of uncertainty in her voice. Alex looked much less convinced. "Will you come by and visit?"

"Of course I will." smiled the Doctor. She dialed in the coordinates for the Timeuses' time, and raced around the console to stabilize the levers on the other side. "Alex, don't touch that door. You could be blinded by the power of the Time Vortex."

"Really? Why didn't it happen to the star dragons, then?"

"Because-" the Doctor said, flipping a series of switches on the side of the console, "_They're _used to the vastness of untempered space. Time isn't too much different- like how you couldn't look straight at their cores. I knew a human who was exposed for too long to the vortex and he _died _right afterwards." Alex stepped away quickly from the door.

"And we are here! Looks like it's just a few hours after you left, too."

"Be sure to visit!" Alex called as he and his mother left the TARDIS. "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Maybe," the Doctor said. "It might be a while longer, though, I'm not very good with time." _It could be a long while longer. _"I'll come as soon as I can, though."

* * *

**So as you can hopefully tell (if I did my job as a writer properly,) the title of this week's episode is based off of the poem _She Walks in Beauty. _I sort of wanted to put in "-like the night" since, you know, _like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun._**

**And also if I did my job right you are wondering about the Camazotz. Well, I was going to introduce the concept of what it is this episode, but it interfered with the _starlight _speech so you'll have to wait another week.**

**Yay! Now I only have two more episodes planned out so you'd better hurry up and review! ;)**

**thank you for reading!**


	3. Autumn Carnival

**Quick note: for the record I've kind of given up trying to find accurate UK terms for stuff because it was taking too long. Also introducing a new companion, Rowan!**

Alex Timeus waited three months before the Doctor came by again. She came in the evening, after the sun was behind the buildings and the light was too dim to read by. His mother answered the door and shrieked, and Alex sprinted down the hallway to see what was going on. "Is it da- _Doctor!" _

The Doctor looked almost exactly the same as he remembered, with an untucked shirt, lace-up boots, and pants that were more pocket than anything else. Her jacket was over one arm, and- "You dyed your hair," he said, looking at it. The Doctor had not only pulled her hair into a large puff at the back of her head, but dyed it _sky blue. _

Beaming, she answered, "Isn't it brilliant? It looks like candyfloss. I love candyfloss. I wanted to make it pink but I couldn't find any pink that would work. Now, what was I here for? I'm afraid this isn't just a social visit, I need to borrow Alex for a bit. Natalie, don't glare at me like that," she continued, letting herself into the flat, "I need to investigate a carnival. And they look at you weird if you don't have a kid."

"But," Alex's mother said as she hurried around the kitchen, "It's October. People don't do things like that in October, not around here. Tea?"

"It's not a normal carnival, that's why I'm investigating. Something's going on."

* * *

AUTUMN CARNIVAL

(by Gakorogirl)

* * *

The Doctor dropped sugar cubes into her tea with a mechanical motion. "There's something up, the question's what. People get sick afterwards, and some of them have died. They're on the right track, that there's something wrong with the functions of the mitochondria- but they don't know the cause, and a subcellular sickness couldn't possibly be linked to a carnival ride, could it?"

"So what do you need Alex for? You're not letting _him _get sick," Natalie said sternly, her brow furrowing slightly as she stepped towards Alex. The Doctor shook her head. "Of course not- from the reports I've managed to gather, there's only a few places that cause the problem."

Shaking her head, Natalie said, "Can't you just fly in with the TARDIS?"

"Too suspicious. You can come too, if you want."

"All right. I'm coming along, and Alex, you are _not _going on any rides."

"Brilliant!" Alex and the Doctor exclaimed at the same time, and Natalie turned away to hide a chuckle. "Are you ready to go now?" she asked. "It's a weekend and there's no meetings I have to record today, and if we get back by tomorrow morning I can get the rest of my work done. Alex, have you done your homework?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh," the Doctor added, "I have a new TARDIS, too. The whole deal with the star dragons overheated the engines and she had a bit of trouble. So I redecorated."

She led the way out onto the street and clicked her fingers to open the doors. "It's pretty!" Alex said as he entered. "You made the middle bit all gold and glowy! And the floors are _shiny," _he said, kneeling down and tracing the patterns engraved in the reflective surface. "This is your language, right? I saw bits of it from the star dragon."

"Gallifreyan. Yeah."

"The _ceiling is full of stars," _Alex gasped as he looked up. "Or is that even a ceiling?"

The Doctor beamed. "It's a ceiling, and I can change the way it looks!" She flicked a couple of switches on the console and the ceiling brightened to a brilliant blue sky.

"Natalie, would you mind closing the doors? I've got the coordinates plugged in already," the Doctor said as she hurried around the console, "so all I have to do is _this!" _She pulled a lever as the doors closed and the familiar engine screech began to sound.

* * *

The sun was bright, but there was a cold wind blowing over the carnival as they walked up to the gate. Distant music played as children laughed on the carousel. "It doesn't seem threatening," Natalie said, peering around. "Cool! _The Palace of Mirrors," _Alex read from a sign. The Doctor rummaged through her many pockets until coming up with the money to buy tickets. "Brilliant, there's some left over," she said happily. "I can buy candyfloss."

She immediately went over to a snack wagon and bought three clouds of pink sugar, giving one to Alex. Natalie refused one.

"You're going to get hyper if you eat all that," she warned. Shrugging, the Doctor mumbled through a mouthful of sugar, "Let's take a look at the mirrors." With her sonic screwdriver held in front of her, she approached the entrance. Alex chuckled. "You look all puffy! And I'm so _tall-_let's go in more-"

He broke off suddenly, walking slowly into the maze. Mirrors loomed on either side of him. "Careful, Alex!" Natalie warned. "People get lost in there."

"But there's a little girl. She must've just come from outside, see, she's got a balloon."

The Doctor froze, looking over. "A red balloon?" "Yes."

"She's not real, then. Or rather, she used to be. She lives in mirrors now." "What happened to her?" Natalie asked.

"She and her family thought they could fight me. They wanted to live forever. And now she does."

"...oh."

"Natalie? Where's the exit?" the Doctor asked quietly. Her voice echoed through the mirrors. "Alex, come back. This way." She put her hand on Alex's shoulder and turned him around, then bumped into a mirror.

"Doctor? I can't see you anymore, I can't see anyone!" Natalie said frantically.

"Don't move! Don't go into the maze!" the Doctor called back. "Doctor... I think something's coming," Alex whispered. A darkness was starting to creep around the corners of the mirrors, and the reflections of the Doctor were going out one by one.

There was a very quiet voice around them. "_Doctor... I think there's something here. People go into the mirror maze and they never come out. I've been waiting for you to come." _"What're you playing at?" the Doctor said cautiously. A bitter wind whistled through the maze.

_"Follow me, Doctor," _the little girl whispered, running across the surface of the mirror. _"The exit's this way. There's a mirror in front of you," _she said as the Doctor led Alex cautiously through the maze. "_See the sunlight? It's right ahead. No tricks."_

"Why are you doing this?" Alex asked. He thought the little girl smiled. _"Thank you for visiting me, Doctor. There's something in the mirrors, I can't make it go away. If it gets enough energy it might spread all the way into my world. You have to stop it. Goodbye, Doctor."_

Natalie was at the exit, waving frantically. "Alex, go to your mother," the Doctor said, shoving him forwards. Someone on the other side of the closest mirror was pounding. Raising her sonic, the Doctor shouted, "Stand back!"

The mirror cracked, and then crumbled neatly to the ground. The figure on the other side of it staggered forwards. "Thank- you-"

Behind them, the mirror shards began to flow back together.

* * *

"What day is it?" the dark figure asked, approaching the Doctor. Narrowing her eyes, the Doctor scanned the figure. "Human, it looks like," she told Alex out of the corner of her mouth. More clearly, she said, "It's April 17th. Friday."

"Oh god," the figure whispered, "I've been in here a day." They dropped to the ground, holding their head. The Doctor ran forwards, jumping over the piles of shattered glass where the mirror had been. "Do you have family around here? And, sorry, are you a boy or a girl?"

"Uh- no. And no."

"Let's get you out of here, get some food. Did you see anything in the mirrors, right before they broke?" the Doctor asked, helping them to the exit.

* * *

"What's your name?" the Doctor asked as she came back loaded with food and drinks. She saw that the person couldn't have been more than nineteen or so, skinny, with short black hair in an oversized rust-orange sweater and jeans. "Rowan."

"Where's your family at, Rowan?"

They shrugged, grabbing the food and wolfing it down. "My dad's in London. He's the only family I've got- I came down here on an off day from work, and there was someone stuck in the maze. A little boy. Did you see him anywhere?"

"No, I'm sorry- wait. Didn't I- break that mirror?"

There was no broken glass left in the maze- through the entrance of the tent, the mirrors glittered innocently. Whole. "Something's going on, and the core of it is in that maze," the Doctor said as she scanned the entrance. "It doesn't read quite like normal glass would."

"Is it an alien?" Alex asked. Rowan looked up from their food. "An _alien?" _they asked warily. "Like the- the Cybermen? And the things that invaded on Christmas ten years ago?"

The Doctor glanced back. "Yeah, an alien. Your planet gets invaded a lot, but not all of you notice. It's covered up."

"You talk like- like you aren't from here."

Before the Doctor could answer, Alex said, "She's not. She's nice, though. From the planet Gall- Galle- _Gallifrey." _he proclaimed triumphantly as he remembered the name.

"Gallifrey, yeah. Rowan, are you feeling all right? Weak?"

"I haven't had food or sleep for days, of course I'm tired," Rowan said as they wiped traces of sugar off of their mouth. "But come to think of it, I am awfully cold. Maybe I'll just lay down- here-"

Their voice trailed off and they flopped over on the grass, eyes fluttering. The Doctor raced over and took their pulse. "Rowan, don't go to sleep, you're very weak." she said urgently. "Natalie- watch them, make sure they don't fall asleep. Get some more food."

"What about you?" Natalie asked.

"I'm going back into the maze. If I don't come out by nightfall leave the park and get back to the TARDIS, and I'll meet you in the morning." Spinning on her heels, she ran into the maze.

* * *

The maze was dimly lit, and the reflections of the Doctor were distorted. She felt her way around a few corners, the mirrors closing in right behind her, until she found herself in a mirrored dome a few meters across. The warped reflections separated into twelve figures stretching out around the dome, which had completely sealed itself. The reflections began to bulge, distancing themselves from the glass, until the Doctor stood in a circle of twelve crystalline figures- old eyes in young faces and old eyes in young faces, trenchcoat, scarf, bowtie. All stiff and shimmering.

"I suppose that's how you made the carnival workers, then," the Doctor said evenly as she looked for a way out. "Made of glass, all of them, to bring in more faces for you to use, more energy to suck in to make yourself bigger, more active?"

The glass reflection of the eleventh spoke.

"You've got lots of faces, Doctor. I could work _years, _just on these. Twelve of them! And _you _make thirteen." It moved naturally, bouncing on its heels. "You're trapped, Doctor. The mirrors will reform as soon as you break them, and eventually the oxygen's running out." It spun around, spreading its arms, and then went stiff again. The voice moved to the reflection of the seventh- "Doctor, your time's almost up-" and then jumped to the tenth, behind her. Laughing a laugh she remembered.

The Doctor didn't bother to address herself to the voice jumping between the reflections- she spoke to the ceiling. "But you know," she said mildly, "It's too bad you only have my faces and not their memories, because I always seem to have... a way _out."_

Raising her sonic screwdriver over her head, she smiled, "New screwdriver, I changed it when I redid the TARDIS. And it's got a new function-"

A high-pitched musical tone began to sound from the spinning tip, and cracks started to spread across the dome.

_"What are you doing?" snarled_ the reflected twelfth, as the other reflections began to burst. The voice changed back to a monotone rendering of the eleventh and said, "_Look out, Doctor. Something's coming, and it's big. Bigger than you've ever known. Camazotz."_

The Doctor covered her head as glass rained down, and the eleventh and twelfth exploded behind her.

There was a pause, and silence. The sun was shining. "Doctor!" Alex screamed, running towards her. Rowan and Natalie were sitting down, staring wide-eyed at the destruction. All of the carnival workers and several rides had exploded, and the glass shards were turning into steam and drifting away.

"What happened? Are you hurt?" Natalie asked as she stood. "I killed it," the Doctor replied as she brushed glass shards off of her jacket, "and only a little. I'll fix myself up once we get back to the TARDIS. Rowan, d'you want to come? And are you feeling all right now?"

Rowan shrugged. "I feel loads better now- maybe killing the mirrors gave back my energy. What d'you mean, _come? _Where are you going?"

* * *

"It's- bigger. On the inside." Rowan said in shock as they looked into the TARDIS.

"Everybody says that," the Doctor beamed. Alex added, "She just redecorated. It used to be all blue and red."

"We'd better get home- it's getting late," Natalie said. The Doctor nodded, then turned to Rowan. "After I take them back, are you up for going anywhere?"

"What does it do, fly?"

"Sort of. Mostly it travels through time." Alex and Natalie were already inside, waiting next to the console. Rowan shook their head. "Not up for any more _aliens _right now. And I'd better get some sleep."

As the TARDIS disappeared behind them, Rowan rubbed their eyes and started off down the road.

* * *

**Loosely inspired by one of my favorite books, Ray Bradbury's ****_Something Wicked This Way Comes._ I'm_ still looking for some new episode/companion/character ideas~ _throw me a time period to set an episode in?**

**Also if you like this fic I _strongly_ suggest that you check out the _Foreman _fan project!**


	4. Smoke in the Trees

**Just a short chapter this week. I'm a bit pressed on time, and the story arc seemed short enough to wrap up in a short chapter. Also, early release again since I need to work on science fair over the weekend.**

* * *

Rowan had fallen asleep on their homework, their computer running in front of them, when suddenly they woke up to the sound of metallic wheezing on the street below. Sticking their head out the window, they saw that the Doctor from the carnival was standing outside, and beginning to walk off down the street. Her hair was still blue on top, but the ends were now a pale pink.

"Hey!"

The Doctor glanced up and gasped. "Rowan! Do you live here?"

"Nah, this is my dad's place. Where are you going?"

"There's a museum with a new exhibit a bit down the street, I was hoping to get there before it closed."

"That one? Doesn't close for another two hours." Rowan answered. Beaming, the Doctor called, "You want to come along?" As Rowan started down the stairs, they paused. A wispy shadow danced across the edge of their vision for a brief instant.

* * *

SMOKE IN THE TREES

(By Gakorogirl)

* * *

"I was trying to do some stuff for one of my online classes," Rowan told the Doctor in line. "But I fell asleep. I can never pay attention to anything for _long enough _to get work done." The Doctor was busy digging through her pockets- she must have had at least twenty pockets on that outfit- to find money.

More quietly, they mumbled, "Maybe I'm just stupid."

The Doctor glanced at them very quickly, and then stepped forward to pay for the tickets. As they headed into the museum, she put a hand on Rowan's shoulder and squeezed quickly. "Where do you want to go first?"

"What's that new exhibit you were looking for?" Rowan asked as they walked over to a map. "Oh, the one about the Bermuda Triangle. It should be interesting to take a look around, see what the newest theory on it is."

"I didn't think you'd be the sort to buy into that kind of thing," Rowan said. "Oh, I'm not. I just like to see the kinds of things that humans come up with."

"So you really are an alien- it's on the map, there-"

"Yeah. Should be right around the corner." Walking briskly, the Doctor turned and headed around the corner, following the signs. "I was here before, a few years back in their timestream. Nice to see the place is cleaned up a bit, though." She spent a few minutes walking around the exhibit, peering at a model of Earth's magnetic field for a moment before she turned to go.

"You're leaving already?" Rowan asked.

"I've finished- I read faster than humans do. You want to come?"

"I'd have to leave a note for my dad, but he's used to me leaving a lot. Where?"

"Anywhere." "Really? Like, other planets?"

* * *

The TARDIS doors flew open to reveal a brilliant blue sky and fields of slightly curly grass. In the distance loomed a city of slender silver towers.

"Welcome to New Earth!" the Doctor announced. "I was last here a long time ago. In their future." She added, falling silent. Rowan didn't notice the change in the Doctor's demeanor, too busy picking bits of grass and sniffing it. "It smells like _apples," _they said.

"Apple-grass!" the Doctor smiled. "You want to go into the city?" she continued, pointing to the silver towers in the distance.

"_Apple-grass?_ That's... obvious. And nah, let's stay out here. I don't really want to talk to anyone."

"TARDIS translation circuit goes pretty far, you'd be able to speak English and they'd understand you just fine," the Doctor said. Rowan looked up. "So, do you hear English? When I talk?"

"Nope. Everything is Gallifreyan to me. Although I do speak English, it would just be a little more rough around the edges without the translation circuit. It's broken a few times and I've had to wing it. Go into the city, or stay out here?"

"Still stay out here- I just don't really like talking to new people." Rowan said, staring off into the distance. "The sky here seems a little bit bluer than on regular old Earth, don't you think?"

"Yeah. That's because of the atmospheric makeup, it's not an exact match."

"What was the sky like on- Gallifrey?" Rowan asked as they flopped down onto the grass. As she sat down, the Doctor replied, "Orange, usually. We had two suns, and the smaller one rose above the southern mountains-" The Doctor broke off abruptly, her eyes damp, and turned away.

"Are you all right?" Rowan asked.

"That's the same thing I said, last time I was here. I was talking to someone else, about Gallifrey, and the sun on the mountains." They were quiet for a little while, waiting in the warm apple-grass. "I guess they were better company than me- I can't even talk to people," Rowan commented. "Who, Martha? She was very different from you. Girl, for one thing."

"I hear something, behind us." Rowan said, jumping to their feet. The Doctor turned, her sonic screwdriver in one hand. "What?"

"Like- like a rattle- there! There's something over there!" Rowan shouted. "It's heading towards those trees!"

"I see it- like grey, and misty?" "Yeah!" Rowan was on their feet and running, and after another second the Doctor began to run after them. "I don't know what it is," she shouted after them.

"That's okay- I know!" Confused, the Doctor followed them to the edge of the trees. "Where is it?" Unhesitating, Rowan pointed into the shadows to the left. "It's over there."

"How do you know?"

"Because it's _me_."

* * *

The Doctor pointed her sonic in the direction Rowan had pointed. "What do you mean?"

"I- I don't know," Rowan said, rubbing their head. "It's- I'm connected to it. I haven't ever seen something like that before, though. It's just _there." _

Puzzled, the Doctor checked the readings on her sonic, pointing it at Rowan for a moment. "I think whatever it is, it's connected to your brain for a reason. Maybe- maybe the chemical signature was compatible the right way."

"Could that be why I'm- like this? And scared of talking to people, and-"

"No. You're _you, _all of you. That doesn't make any sense, does it?" "Ah- no. Sorry?"

The Doctor put a hand lightly on Rowan's shoulder. "It's a fumious wavelength, they don't usually connect to humans. I can remove it reasonably easily, but it's not influencing you, _you're _influencing it. It could only form the link if your mind was just a certain way, see?

Now, you shouldn't feel _bad _about the way you were _already. _You are the _best _you, and the only person that there will ever be who's you."

Rowan sniffled briefly. "That does make me feel better- even though I still don't quite understand what you're saying." Seeing that the Doctor was about to start trying to explain again, they cut her off. "So you said you could get rid of it?"

"Yeah, it's just a matter of you staying still for a second- I'm going to enter your mind for a couple seconds and sever the connection, okay?" The Doctor took Rowan's head between her hands and concentrated hard, sifting through a layer of grey to find the thread connecting Rowan's mind to the wavelength's. With a small push, it snapped and the Doctor drew back. "There."

"I can feel- it's gone. Nothing else feels different, though." Rowan said, rubbing the side of her head. The Doctor smiled. "I told you. Where to next? There's loads of other planets that're just as nice as here- Amanopia, Barcelona- the planet- Cheem, there's living trees there-"

"Let's- let's go to Earth. I think I've had enough aliens for a while."

"Fair enough," the Doctor said. "Ancient Rome is nice- but then again, there's some nice times nearer home." Rowan shrugged. "Wherever we end up, I guess." The Doctor snapped her fingers and the TARDIS doors opened. "Let's go, then."

* * *

**Hope you liked it, even if it wasn't as long as most of the other chapters. Don't forget to review and suggest episodes! Also check out my playlist for it on youtube, _Running is a Victory. _There's one more episode I have planned right now, and it's got Weeping Angels. Someone on tumblr suggested that they go kill Kennedy but I've seen some other fics like that so that's a last resort.**


	5. The Lonely Assassins

"Rowan?" The Doctor called from the TARDIS console. The controls were shuddering as the TARDIS spun through the vortex, and she wasn't sure what was causing it.

"In the library!" Rowan called back. "Need help?"

"Yeah, can you come in here?" Rowan appeared a few moments later, and the Doctor told them, "Hold down this lever and when I say _now, _flip that switch. I'm going to run an analysis on our course."

She ran to the other side of the console and began to flip dials with both hands as Rowan held down the lever. "Right, I think I've got the readings- _now!" _Rowan flipped the switch and the Doctor took back the controls, glancing down at the small screen on the console. "Readings register a temporal anomaly- looks like a small time rift. Want to take a look?" she asked, dropping the TARDIS into space outside the rift coordinates.

Warily, Rowan said, "What's it look like?"

"The ones in space are pretty, usually. Sort of like a nebula- there was a particularly gorgeous one in the Medusa Cascade, I sealed it eventually. Gave me loads of trouble first. Just don't look at it for too long. Like the sun." She threw open the doors and Rowan looked out, their eyes widening. The rift was rippling with darkness, and faint wisps of blue and green gases surrounded it.

"Doctor-"

"Brilliant, right?" the Doctor asked a little anxiously. "Maybe you'd better look away now, I don't know how strong it is."

"Doctor! There's a _ship _outside the rift!"

* * *

THE LONELY ASSASSINS

(by Gakorogirl)

* * *

"I've never seen one that looks like that before," the Doctor said cautiously. "Should we leave?" Rowan asked, furrowing their eyebrows.

"There's something going on here," the Doctor replied. "I'm going to try and contact the ship, see what they're doing here. Make sure there's no trouble."

Turning back to the console, she flicked a handful of switches and turned on the communications system, which fizzled out. The Doctor smacked it with the back of her hand and the systems came back online. "Good girl," she muttered. "And- I've got to the communications of the other ship." Raising her voice and leaning towards the microphone, she said, "This is the Doctor, contacting the ship outside the time rift. What is your purpose outside the rift?"

There was no answer besides a series of high-pitched beeps.

"Is that- morse code?" Rowan asked as the beeps went on.

"Maybe-" the Doctor said, clearing up the static. "Translating for Morse-"

_"Doctor." _The computer's translation was mechanical and flat.

"Oh, it works! Brilliant!" the Doctor laughed. "What is your purpose outside the rift?" she asked, as clearly as she could.

"_We are refueling outside the rift." _"Your ship- runs on temporal energy?" the Doctor asked cautiously. "What is your species identification?"

"_Come on board. We need your help."_

Turning to the Doctor, Rowan asked, "What do we do? It might be a trap-" The Doctor seemed to ignore them as she turned to the controls and began to flip levers frantically. "I have to get the jump just right- hold that down, thanks- because the rift makes her a little tricky to- push that button, next to your elbow- handle properly. _And_ it looks like we've made the hop."

More quietly, she said, "Yes."

"What?"

"Trap. Stay in here no matter what."

Rowan nodded slowly, their eyes widening as the Doctor opened the door. "There's nothing out there," they said. Closing the door, the Doctor drew back. "Not sure what it is, but probably something that doesn't have a voice of its own. And the ship was by the temporal rift..." she trailed off, lost in thought as she tugged on the ends of her curly hair.

"Rowan. I'm going out there, no matter what happens you need to stay in the TARDIS, and _don't open the doors_. You- you might hear me, outside. But if it's really me, if it's not a trick, the TARDIS will unlock the doors by herself. Understand?"

"But- I don't want to just _stay _in here, and not know!"

"Don't worry, I've got something in here that I can keep in contact with," the Doctor said as she rummaged through her many pockets. Finally, she produced a pair of black metal disks. "Here, we should be able to talk back and forth with these. Hold it up to your mouth, but don't shout- it's very sensitive."

Rowan nodded again as they took the disk. "Good luck," they said.

"Yeah." mumbled the Doctor as she stepped out of the TARDIS.

* * *

The corridors were eerily silent, lit only by the faint glow of a few thin strips of light along the ceiling. It was bitterly cold, too- just warm enough to keep the metal from growing brittle, but no warmer.

"All right then," the Doctor said mildly, "Where _are _you?"

There was no reply, but a faintly metallic echo sounded from deeper in the ship. The Doctor held out her sonic, lighting up the tip a brilliant white and casting a shaky circle of light around herself as she kept walking.

Suddenly, something clanged on the metal floor behind her, and she turned. "Oh, _there _you are," she remarked as she gazed at the pale fangs of the Angel. Since her last regeneration, they were taller than she was, just by a little bit. A good thing, too, since otherwise she would have been caught in its stare.

"How many of you are there, on here?" she asked as she took a few steps backwards. The Angel's eyes didn't seem to be on her- they were on something else, behind her. Backup. The Doctor heard the faint echoes of another Angel quickly becoming louder, and ducked out of the way as the second solidified behind her. Looking up, she smiled- the Angels had been caught in each other's gaze. There were likely to be more than two on the ship, though.

The Doctor squeezed between the Angel and the icy bulwark, jogging back towards the TARDIS. "Rowan?" she said into the communicator. "Doctor!"

"I've confirmed what I thought- the ship is an Angel ship. An army, I assume, going to the same place as a different nest that I intercepted a few centuries ago."

"Centuries- doesn't matter right now," Rowan muttered. "What are Angels?"

"The Lonely Assassins. Quantum-locked lifeforms, they can't move if another living being is looking at them. I trapped two just now, forced them to look at each other. Coming back to the TARDIS now, I'll snap the doors open like we agreed. Be ready to close them right away, the Angels are fast." Moving quickly, she snapped her fingers and the TARDIS doors flew open. The Doctor looked behind her, petrifying another Angel as she jumped in and Rowan slammed the doors. The angel slammed into the ship just as the doors closed, and the Doctor checked the lock. It looked like it was fastened.

"So- they're fast, right? Like quantum fast?" Rowan asked. They looked interested.

"Uh- not quite as fast as quantum speeds, no. But they're only _alive _when you look away from them," the Doctor said, adding, "and if they touch you, you'll be displaced in time. They feed on potential energy. Also don't look into their eyes, they can get into your brain that way, and start fiddling around. That's bad."

"They can't ever look at each other?" clarified Rowan. The Doctor looked at them askance.

"Not very important right now, Rowan-" she said.

"No, but- they must be terribly lonely." Rowan said, looking away. The Doctor paused and stared at them. "Yeah." She hesitated, and echoed her words from many, many years earlier. "Loneliest creatures in the universe. That's where the name came from."

* * *

There was a moment of silence, interrupted as an Angel slammed into the side of the TARDIS. "We have to do something about this nest," the Doctor said. "I think I've got a bit of plan, but I'm not sure it'll work."  
"Well, what _is _the plan?" Rowan asked.

The Doctor answered, "We're going to overload the ship's engines, stall it out. Grab that lever and hold it down, and keep that wheel bit level," she said as she raced to the controls. The TARDIS rocked again, as another Angel slammed into it. The Doctor rapidly flicked switches and dials. "Leaving the interior of the ship," she said. The TARDIS shuddered. "And if I'm not mistaken that was the TARDIS shaking off an Angel. Now, see if we can dump some extra energy into the rift, it'll overload, and then hopefully seal. That'll kill the engines of the Angel ship."

"Right, so what do I do now?"

"Ah- grab that dial, and press the green button. You don't have to keep the spinny bit still anymore, there!" the Doctor shouted as she rushed around the console. "It really is brilliant, having someone else to help. These are supposed to have loads of pilots, and I sort of failed my tests to even fly one. Pull that lever with the red tip!"

Pulling the lever, Rowan asked, "So you sort of failed your driving test? For TARDISes?"

"Ah- yeah. Pretty much."

A spray of sparks burst out of the TARDIS console. "There- we've dumped the energy!" the Doctor shouted. She pulled up an image of the rift on one of the monitors- the blue streaks were becoming more pronounced, and bursts of black and red energy were bursting out of it. The Angel ship shook in the flow as the energy bursts flowed over it, and then the engines exploded. "Brilliant!" the Doctor exclaimed. The rift grew for another moment, the pulsing lights surrounding it briefly glowing every color of the rainbow, and then crumpled shut.

"That was amazing," Rowan said. "Are the Angels still alive in there?"

"Probably. Can't do any harm though, just turn into stone and crumble away, eventually." the Doctor said.

* * *

"Doctor-" Rowan said as the Doctor steered the TARDIS back into the rift. "Yes?"

"How old are you, exactly?" Rowan wanted to know. "You said the last time you saw an Angel nest was centuries ago."

The Doctor awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, the thing is- I don't stay the same me. Timelords, we regenerate, change every cell in our bodies. Humans sort of do, every few years you're all-new cells. Ours go all at once, with lots of light and energy. This is the first time I've been a girl, actually." she added. "Thirteen regenerations, first time. I haven't been ginger, either."

"You must be kidding," Rowan laughed. "Thirteen different bodies, only one ended up a girl?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Anyway, my personality changes, too. And Eleven, he had a bit of a block in his mind, to keep from going insane. The Man who Forgets. I've remembered almost everything he shut out by now, but I'm still not sure how old I really am. Between two and three thousand years old, I'd guess."

_"No way!" _gasped Rowan, and the Doctor laughed. "I'm actually a bit older than Timelords would usually live, too- got a whole new regeneration cycle, or Eleven would've been the last one."

"What other kind of stuff did he block?" Rowan asked, their voice softer.

"Numbers,"the Doctor answered briefly and fell silent. "Want to go see what Alex and Ms. Timeus are up to? I'm thinking we could take a field trip, the Roman Republic, listen to some Cicero. He was _full of himself, _he was."  
Rowan chuckled as the TARDIS spun off into the vastness of time.

* * *

**First and probably only Weeping Angel-related ep I'm planning to do, so I hope you enjoyed it! (Also, Cicero. He really needed a good PR manager to keep him from pissing people off...)**


	6. Not a Chapter

**Hey guys, it's the author. There won't be an update this week because I'm super stressed out and, well, not really feeling the motivation to get one finished.**

**There are a couple things to look forwards to- on the next episode-chapter, Rowan and the Doctor are travelling ****_back _****in time. And there's kelpies and poetry and general insanity. **

**After that I've got a two-part episode, Wonder/Joy, where Alex (and Natalie) will be returning. And then a few episodes that I haven't planned out yet before the Season Finale (again, a two-parter.)**

**The Season Finale episodes will be titled ****_A Wind in the Door _****and ****_The Captive Stars. _****And we'll finally see the Camazotz, so be ****afraid ****excited!**


	7. To the Waters and the Wild

**Sorry guys, I've been having a rough couple weeks and I only just got motivation to do this chapter. On the plus side, we finally get to travel ****_back _****in time! Title of the episode is based off of the Yeats poem, _The Stolen Child. _If you haven't read it before, look it up- it's worth it. (Also on the subject, check out the movie _Song of the Sea- _I think it's on Netflix.)**

* * *

The storm was howling outside, and sheets of rain whipped across the ocean. A bitterly cold wind seeped under the walls of the small cottage, and the light of the single lamp flickered.

"Have you ever seen such a storm?" asked the girl standing at the door. Her hair was dripping wet, and she breathed in the salty air as if it were water in a desert.

"Catri, get away from there," her mother commented as she glanced over. Her voice was mild and distracted. "You'll catch your death of cold."

Looking over her shoulder out at the storm, Catriona asked again, "Have you _ever _seen such a storm?"

"Close the door! There hasn't been such a storm since you were born, and that was the biggest anyone could remember." "Wasn't that- the day the Lady disappeared?" Catriona asked.

"Who said that?" "Oh, just someone in the village. He said, t' lady disappeared, and so did her newborn child, taken away by the ocean itself."

"Don't be so ridiculous, child. Someone could tell you there were dragons in the stars, and you'd believe it." she sniffed, stirring a pot of stew that sat on the small stove. "Taken by the ocean itself- idiot ch-"

A loud knock sounded at the door, and Catriona's mother hurried to open it. Standing outside, dripping wet, was a woman with a massive puff of thick black curls around her beaming face. There was another, smaller figure, hidden inside a hooded jacket.

"Taken away by the ocean itself, you say?" the dark-haired woman asked as she entered. "Doesn't sound so impossible to me, not around here."

* * *

TO THE WATERS AND THE WILD

(by gakorogirl)

* * *

Rowan looked back into the raging storm as the door swung shut. In a brief flash of lightning, they thought they saw a pair of white horses dancing in the waves that lashed along the shoreline. "What was that?"

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"There was something in the water- like white horses. And not the metaphorical kind, the real kind."

"You saw the white horses?" said the young girl who had let them in. Rowan guessed she was about thirteen, with green eyes too large for her narrow face. "They say there are kelpies in the bay, and seeing them's a sure omen of death."

_"Catri!" _the older woman snapped. "I'm terribly sorry about her, she's not quite right in the-" she began, but the Doctor leaned closer to Catri. "Who says that?" she asked quietly. Lightning flashed again, and the walls of the cottage rattled with the clap of thunder. "Ah, mostly the fishermen. Brian's a good friend of the family, he tells stories in exchange for meals. And Da does too," she added, glancing at her mother. "Just not so much."

"Where's your father now?"

"Travelling," she said. "He should have been back tonight, but the storm prevents him from coming back. He'll have to stay in the village."

Suddenly, the door swung open, swinging on its hinges as sheets of rain blasted into the cottage. "Da?" Catri gasped as she fumbled the plate of stew she was carrying. The tall man standing in the doorframe barely acknowledged her as he hurried across the room. "The white horses," he gasped.

"Cormac, have you gone _mad?" _the mother asked.

"No," he gasped. "There- on the beach. Below the cottage," he said, running back to the door which still swung wildly on its hinges. He heaved the door shut and locked it, breathing hard.

* * *

"Who are you?" Cormac asked, glaring.

"I'm the Doctor, and this is Rowan. We're just passing through, we were on our way into town."

The Doctor dug into her pockets and began to pull out her psychic paper, but the family seemed appeased. "I'm Cormac," the man said. "I suppose you've met Catriona and Mor?"

"Yes," the Doctor replied. She seemed preoccupied. "Tell me about the white horses."

Mor's eyes darted to the door. "We don't speak of them," she said. "And they don't bother us." As she spoke, an eerie screech echoed through the storm, and another, sounding eerily near the cottage door. The Doctor pulled out her sonic and got to her feet, a shower of droplets spraying from her hair as she walked towards the door.

"It seems a bit too late for that- _tell me what they are."_

Catriona spoke. "Sea demons. Like kelpies, but fiercer and smarter. They have heads like horses and bodies of salt and foam and green eyes that glow like a cat's. I've seen them, dancing in the waves when the wind comes out of the north."

There were more screeches on the wind, somewhere between the cry of a bird and a horse. "I think they're coming this way," Rowan said as they listened. Catriona spoke quickly as she continued.

"They take a pregnant woman, sometimes, take the child. The unborn child. And they give back one of their own, Brian says. Last time they took the Lady up in the old castle, and the Lord's barely been seen since. He spends his days staring off to the sea, hoping she'll come back." Something slammed into the cottage door.

Cormac ran to the door and leaned against it. The _thing _on the other side began to slam into the door again and again, causing the wood to warp and bulge. "What do they _want?" _he gasped.

"We could ask," the Doctor said warily, approaching the door. "White horses," she called. "Can you hear me?"

"We can hear you," came the reply, in a high, rasping voice. The pounding on the door hesitated. "You are not one of us, but you speak the language?"

"Nah, I've got a translation circuit from the TARDIS," the Doctor said. She began to scan the door, and Cormac jerked away, pointing to the glowing tip of the sonic. "What's that?"

"Just a sonic screwdriver, basically harmless."

_"Time Lord!" _screeched the sea demon. _"Destroyer of worlds!" _

"You aren't really helping my credibility," the Doctor sighed. "What do you want?"

"We want our child," the sea demon answered. "The ocean's child." Catriona's face was deathly pale as she stood, and her green eyes seemed to glow in the firelight.

* * *

"I am not your child," she said.

"You are," hissed the answer. The storm was beginning to die down, although the wind still howled outside. "You were the trade, fourteen years ago. For the young lord," it continued. "You can come back now, daughter of the ocean." Something slammed into the door again, throwing Cormac across the floor. He struggled to stand up.

"I- am not-" Catriona began. The sea demon made a noise that could have been a sigh. "You need to return to us now, or you will never be able to."

"Why not?" Rowan asked, speaking up for the first time in several minutes. "Why are you coming now, of any night?"

"We will leave soon. We crashed here, nearly two hundred years ago. Technology on this world has _finally," _it huffed, "advanced enough for us to obtain the proper quality of material for the ship. And the kelpie-children must come home now, before we leave."

Catriona was trembling as she stood in the middle of the floor. Slowly, she turned to her parents. "Is- it true?" she asked quietly. "I had thought so before, some nights."

Cormac nodded and looked away as he mumbled, "We found you, years ago. Washed up against the rocks, almost a human lass."

"Almost."

"Your eyes glowed like the sea demons', and your skin was cold as death," Mor whispered. "That went away, soon enough. And we never spoke of it. Catri," she continued. "We've fed you and kept you for so many years, we've had you safe and happy, haven't we?"

"Yes," Catriona said calmly. "Safe."

"Don't touch that door," Mor warned. Cormac scowled and began to limp towards the door. "Catri, step back."

"I will make my choice," she said mildly. "But first I am going to open the door." The Doctor stayed silent, but Rowan tensed as Cormac reached for Catriona's arm. "Stop it," they snapped. Cormac looked at them, confused. "I wasn't going to _hurt _her," he said. "_Those things are, they're changing her, look at her!"_

"We will not hurt the child," the sea demon sighed. "We want to see her, up close," it hissed. "Let her open the door."

Mor turned to the Doctor. "I don't know what you are, or where you come from." she said. "But you've _brought _the sea demons here, and now they're going to _take my daughter somewhere and probably drown her or eat her and-" _she turned to Catri, who had started towards the door. "You are forbidden to touch that door!"

The Doctor stepped across the room and put her hands on Mor's shoulders. "Mor. You have to let go of Catri. Eventually, she has to leave."

"But- but not _yet," _Mor whispered.

"You have to let her choose now," the Doctor said. "I'm sorry."

"Catri!" Cormac shouted. The girl had begun to cross over to the door, her right hand extended. The bowl of stew was forgotten, broth sloshing out as she held it haphazardly in her other hand.

* * *

Catriona opened the door.

The sea demon looked much as she had described it to the strangers, shaped like a small horse but with a long, salt-matted coat and a drifting white mane. As she opened the door, it gave a triumphant screech, baring a row of serrated teeth.

"Hello?" Catri said to it uncertainly. It was terrifying, but not _alien. _And it had her same eyes, foxfire green.

_"_Hello," it replied, "Daughter of the ocean." There were other sea demons, twisting and floating along the rocky path that led up from the water. "Daughter of the ocean, will you come with us?" they whispered.

"Why didn't you come earlier?" she asked, leaning backwards from the sea demons. They glanced at each other, making uncertain noises.

"You need to make your choice, daughter of the ocean. We will take you away from here, to our world. Our world of sky and sea and storms. It is a good trade. A world of wonder, not this world of rock and wind and pain. _Come away, child of the ocean."_

Somewhere, Mor started to sob, clinging to the Doctor's arms. Rowan was blocking Cormac from reaching the door, and the tall man seemed uncertain of whether or not to shove them aside. "Let her choose," Rowan said quietly.

"Why didn't you come earlier?" Catriona asked again, more angrily. The lead sea demon paused. "It was not important," it said finally.

"Is it important _now?" _Catriona said bitterly. "Am _I _important? To _any _of you?" she added, wheeling to face her parents. "Would it make a difference? If I stay here, if I go, will it make... will it make a difference to any of you?"

* * *

Mor sniffled, raising her head. "Catri- I wanted to tell you before- I couldn't bear a child. We found you, and- and it was a _gift. _A gift of heaven. And we were so very afraid to lose you. I'm so sorry," she whispered. If she said anyting else, it was lost in the howling of the wind.

Catriona hesitated at the door, her eyes shining a brilliant green. Hesitantly, she turned to the ocean and breathed in the salt air. "Am I important now?" she asked the sea demons. There was a long silence, and in the end it was the Doctor who answered, her voice almost lost in the howling wind.

"Important? Catri, important isn't _important_. You're not a sea demon, and you're not a human. What you are is Catriona who lives in a cottage at the edge of the sea, or maybe Catriona who lives in a far-away ocean under a pair of moons. It doesn't matter which, it just matters what you do with whatever you decide."

Nodding, Catriona turned to look at her human parents. The glowing in her eyes faded slightly, and her clenched jaw relaxed. "I'm not going to stay here," she said. "But I don't want to go with _you-" _she pointed at the sea demon, which snorted and stepped backwards.

Slowly, she turned towards the sea and her eyes began to glow again. "I'll come back, maybe."

"Catriona, _no." _Mor snapped. When she saw that Catriona's skin had gone deathly pale, a silvery sheen creeping through her hair, she began to sob. "Don't you _care _about us any more, Catri?"

"I care too much," Catriona whispered, and began to run, her feet skidding on the rocky path as her hair began to morph into the feathery, silver-white plumes of the sea demons.

Mor continued to cry loudly, and then more quietly as Catri disappeared into the rain. The sea demons continued to stand on the path for several minutes, cawing at each other. Finally, the leader said, "An attempt was made to retrieve the child. The bargain was fulfilled." They drifted away, into the thin mist that was beginning to form as the rain died down.

"We should go," the Doctor mouthed to Rowan, and they slipped out of the cottage.

* * *

"Isn't the TARDIS up the hill?" Rowan asked as the Doctor began to head in the opposite direction.

"Yeah, it is."

"So why are we going this way?"

The Doctor pointed. Standing waist-deep in the surf was Catriona, her body almost completely covered in drifting silver-white plumes. She turned to look back at the Doctor and waved before diving into the water.

"These almost never turn out nicely," the Doctor said. "Especially when the kids think they're human. But I think this time it ended up brilliantly- relatively speaking. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Relative to what?"

"Oh, you weren't there. I almost forgot." the Doctor remarked offhandedly, zipping up her jacket against the cold sea wind. "Should we head back to the TARDIS now, then?"

"Well, there's something I wanted to say- I think I'd like to go home for a little while, I've got to keep working my job so I can pay for classes. And- it's been a little stressful lately, I think I need a break. Just a few weeks, maybe?"

"Oh. Of course- you want to go home right away?"

"As soon as possible. Or we could stop by somewhere nice, really fast." Rowan said. The Doctor perked up a little. "Back to the TARDIS, then?"

"Yeah."

* * *

**Rowan will be back, but they'll be gone for a few episodes. Alex and Natalie should show up in the next ones, so be excited!**


	8. Wonder

**So I more or less got this chapter out on time! Yay! The next one isn't all the way written yet but I'll try and get that one out on time. Also the Doctor finally got rid of the wacky hair colors- she might go back to blue for the finale, I'm still deciding.**

**Also, these episodes are going to be strongly influenced by (and name-drop) the book _The Neverending Story._**

* * *

"Doctor?" Natalie exclaimed. "It's been two months!" The Doctor, slightly disheveled as always but _thankfully without blue hair_, had just turned up at the door of their flat. And to top it off, Natalie was hosting a small party in an hour and she hadn't found anyone to watch Alex.

"Sorry about that, I must've messed up the controls some," the Doctor mumbled, closing the door behind her. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" she added.

"Not unless you can watch Alex while I have some people over," Natalie griped as she ran back into the kitchen to turn off the stove. "He's got a new movie he wants to go see, but I told him he couldn't, at least not in theaters, it's too violent. He's up in his room reading right now, but I'm worried he might cause trouble during the party if he doesn't have something to do later."

The Doctor said, "I'm sure he wouldn't cause trouble, Natalie. I can watch him, if you like, or take him on the TARDIS somewhere." Someone rang the doorbell.

"There's not supposed to be anyone here yet!" Natalie griped as she opened the door. "Just go take Alex somewhere, but somewhere _safe, _you understand?"

* * *

WONDER

(by Gakorogirl)

* * *

The Doctor stuck her head into Alex's room. "Hey, Alex," she said cheerfully. "I'm watching you for a bit, you want to go somewhere?"

Alex was laying on his bed reading something, but the cover was turned away from the Doctor. "Doctor!" he shouted, dropping the book. "Where are we going?"

"Anywhere. Your mum said someplace safe, but you know... we can just stay close to the TARDIS."

"Can we go see Age of Ultron?" Alex asked.

"Is that the movie you aren't allowed to see?" the Doctor asked. "Let's go to a planet instead- _Harry Potter!"_

_"_What?"

"Harry Potter," the Doctor repeated in an explanatory tone as she walked over to Alex's bookshelf.

"Yeah, it's pretty easy," Alex said. "I read all of them a couple years ago." He noticed the Doctor had pulled out a copy and was flipping through the pages. "Are we going to a planet, Doctor?" he said. "Are there lots of planets with breathable atmospheres?"

"Oh, enough. I've got some oxygen masks in the TARDIS, though, it's the pressure you'd really need to worry about. And a very strong gravity, you can't stay there for too long. Not even I can do that."

"So, can we go now?"  
"Yeah, you want to bring your book?"

Alex doubled back and grabbed the book, which turned out to be _The Neverending Story. _"That's a good one," said the Doctor. "The power of names."

"_The Doctor _isn't your real name, is it?" Alex asked as they walked out the door. The Doctor's sloppy clothes drew a disapproving glance from Natalie's early-arriving friend, who was sitting in the kitchen and talking in a loud voice about gardening.

"No, it isn't. Time Lords don't use their real names, they use sort of nicknames. But the nicknames have power, too. They mean what we really _are._"

"Like _The Doctor."_

"Yeah. The word was Gallifreyan, before it was in any other language. Healer."  
"What are some other names?"

"_The Corsair, _they were a friend of mine. And _The Master, _very much the opposite. Most of the time, anyway. Here we are!" she exclaimed as they stepped into the TARDIS. The ceiling was glowing in sunset colors, like the sky outside.

"Let's go to Adakite III, it's very nice. The people are made of light," she said. Alex shrugged. "Sounds cool- what's it like?"

"A planet of light and fire and crystal," the Doctor said as the TARDIS doors swung shut and she began to fiddle with the controls.

* * *

The doors swung open onto a glittering plain of white grass. "_Whoa," _Alex gasped. About a mile away loomed a city of blocky buildings. "You want to go to the city?" the Doctor asked. "Sure!" said Alex. As he looked up at the sky, he saw that it had a green tinge, and the sun was high overhead. "What's in the air here?" he asked.

"Oh, you can breathe it just fine, there's just a bit less nitrogen to filter out the colors. Here's the footpath to the city." She pointed towards the city. "See, between the rooftops there's cables? Or maybe you can't. The speeders go on suspended cables, so there's no chance of us getting hit by one."

They started to walk, and the Doctor commented, "There are fire rivers here, in the cave systems. The ones aboveground are water, but don't drink from them. They taste bitter without filters."

"So, the caves must be too hot to live in?"

"Oh, people live there. Not humans, of course, but there's lots of life down there. And if you get a special suit you can go down and do some sightseeing. The fire really does flow like water, it's not lava. Some species can even _drink _it."

"Can you?"

The Doctor laughed. "Not unless I want a speedy regeneration."

The city was close now- the buildings were only a few stories tall, but made of a opaque rocky material. Some of them had square corners, and some were rounded and worn-looking. "The Adakitan grow their cities out of living rock," the Doctor said.

Alex stopped for a moment to stare at the structures. They didn't seem to be moving in any way, and they looked like ordinary rock. "So those are _alive_?"

"Yeah, the same way a tree is. They suck minerals out of the soil when they grow too big, which is why only the white grass grows on most of the planet." "It's really pretty," Alex said.

"Mmm- the Adakitan have virtually destroyed the environment, making the living rock grow so high. There used to be trees here, that looked almost like the ones on Gallifrey. Trees with shining leaves. The planet, though, it'll adapt. The Adakitan won't."

"What do you mean?"

"The atmosphere is changing, and soon most of the agriculture will collapse. Most of the Adakitan will go offworld, but a lot..." The Doctor trailed off. "We're almost at the city," she said. In another minute, they passed the first (and smallest) rock structure. It was translucent in the sunlight, with a slightly shimmering quality. Alex laid his hand on the rock and jerked it away. "It's _warm,"_

"Brilliant, right? The rock produces a little bit of heat when it photosynthesizes. It's a little chilly here- this is one of the warmest days of the year- and so the Adakitan save loads on heating."

"What do they do if it gets too hot?"  
"Move up onto the roof, of course," said a small voice behind them. Alex spun around and gaped as the Doctor chuckled quietly.

* * *

The Adakitan was even shorter than Alex, only about a meter tall. It- or she, maybe- had shimmering white-gold skin and massive golden eyes, and brilliantly glowing white hair floated down to its ankles.

"You must be a tourist," it said softly. "I've never seen anything quite like _you _before!"

"Well, I've- never seen anything like you, either," Alex said. "I'm a human."

"I'm Adakitan," it answered. The corners of its eyes crinkled in what looked like a smile. "Call me Wonder."  
"Wonder?"

"It's short for my real name. Or the Common translation of my real name."

"Andromeda Galactic Common," the Doctor said quietly. Addressing Wonder, she asked, "What's your full name?"  
"Well, it translates out to _Wonder at the whole of creation," _Wonder said. "Nobody's ever asked that before- they just want pictures. Are you a human too?"

The Doctor shook her head. "I'm- no. Not human."

"Is that why you have such pretty hair?" Wonder asked, reaching up to tug on the end of a stray spiral of hair. "You like it?" the Doctor asked. "I usually dye it, I was going to do purple this week but there wasn't time. But nah, there's humans that look like me, too."

"There must be _lots _of different kinds of humans," Wonder said. "We look different, but not _that _different. Oh- there're my friends, want to meet them?"

It danced away, the tips of her toes barely touching the path, and Alex and the Doctor followed. Wonder grabbed the hands of two other Adakitan and pulled them over, chattering as she did. "And the smaller one's human, but the one with the fluffy hair is-"

It paused. "What planet were you from?"

"Oh, I travel around," the Doctor said. "What are your friends' names?"

"This is Joy, and this is Maggie."

"Maggie?" Alex asked. Maggie- at least he thought it was Maggie- said, "My name translates to _That pain without which the joy would be meaningless, _and I couldn't go by _Pain, _obviously." It laughed quietly. "And Joy's full name is _The joy of being able to love. _It's a much nicer name."

"What's your name?" Joy asked, its eyes smiling.

"I'm Alex." "I'm the Doctor," the Doctor said, and all three Adakitan gasped. "_The Doctor?"_

* * *

"I mean-" the Doctor said, but was cut off by Maggie. "You can _help," _it said, eyes wide. "Please?"

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked.

Joy and Wonder exchanged a glance and looked up silently at the Doctor. Maggie answered, "There's people disappearing. And nobody notices, except me and Wonder and Joy."

"There's nothing wrong," Joy said at the same time. "You're all so _silly-" _it laughed, when everyone looked over.  
"Not you, _too!" _Maggie gasped. "Joy, you remember me, right? Look at me. Remember what we did yesterday?"

"Friend things," Joy said vaguely. "It was fun." Its eyes seemed to be clouding over.

Wonder grabbed Joy's arm. "We went down to the fire rivers, Joy."  
Joy's eyes cleared for a moment. "I drank the fire water," it said, words starting to slur as its eyes clouded again. "There's nothing wrong here, nothing's wrong-"

The Doctor whipped out her sonic and began to scan Joy. "Joy drank the fire water?" she asked. Wonder and Maggie both nodded. "The rivers were in full flame, it was beautiful," Wonder said. "And Joy drank the water, but I don't like it so much, and Maggie was trying to find Eternity- Eternity disappeared down in the caves, two and a half days ago. Do you think the fire water's making her like this?"

Suddenly, Joy wrenched loose of Wonder's grip and began to run. "Joy?" Maggie called._ "Joy!"_

Joy turned and looked back, laughing a jingling laugh. "I will tell the Core, the Doctor has come back." It whisked away between the buildings, the laugh fading away.

"That can't be good," Alex said quietly. "Maybe we should've stayed home."

"I would've ended up here anyway," the Doctor said. "I always turn up where people need me." She had started to run in the direction Joy had gone, and Alex sprinted after her. Wonder and Maggie ran beside him, their tiny feet barely touching the ground.

Joy's small form disappeared on the outskirts of town. "Where'd it go?" Alex gasped.

Maggie looked up at Alex. "Into the Crypt," it said sadly. "Nobody ever comes back from there."

* * *

**Adakite is actually a type of igneous rock, which seemed perfect for a "planet of fire and crystal." Please review (even just a few words makes my day!)**

**The next chapter/episode will be called _Joy. _And the one after that I'm thinking of making a companion-light episode. With Cybermen, maybe. What do you guys think of the title _Dreaming of Gold? _It was kind of supposed to parallel _Nightmare in Silver._**


	9. Joy

**Did I forget to post this? omg I'm so sorry I shouldn't be allowed to write fanfics... Anyway, there's probably going to be a companion-light episode and then I'll start working on the finale. I've already decided on titles for that one- the first bit is called _The Collector of Worlds _and the second one is _The Captive Stars._**

* * *

Deep below the surface, Joy wandered through an endless maze of dripping tunnels. Even for an Adakitan, the heat was becoming oppressive. There were voices calling, a long way away, but it didn't feel any pull towards them. Instead, it kept walking. The voices went away after a while.

_Where is the Doctor? _a great voice asked from the center of the world. _His presence is strong._

Joy hesitated for a moment, but it didn't see any reason not to speak. "The Doctor is a female," it said in a flat tone.

_Regeneration, _the voice said. "I don't understand," Joy said.

_You wouldn't. Where is she?_

"On the surface. In the City of Tales. Not far."

_You have done well, _the voice rumbled. It seemed closer. Joy rounded another corner and the faint glow coming off its skin illuminated a thin, dark figure. It looked to be Adakitan, but dark and hunched. _You have done well, Joy, _it told her.

"Eternity?" Joy asked as it looked closely at the dark Adakitan's face. It couldn't be Eternity- Eternity was tall and golden-eyed and quiet.

_I am the Core, _said the dark Adakitan. _The Vastness of Eternity, such a pretty name. Eternity is gone, child. Its body grows weak. _A black, liquid smoke began to billow from the Core's mouth, enveloping Joy.

Joy screamed and did not stop screaming.

* * *

_JOY_

_by Gakorogirl_

* * *

"Are we just gonna _leave _Joy down there?" Alex asked as Wonder pulled on the back of his shirt. The Doctor shook her head. "We've been going too close to the fire rivers- a human can't handle the heat much longer. We'll get Joy back, though."

"Will we?" Maggie said quietly. "Doctor, on the surface there are extra heatsuits. One will fit you, but children can't go into the fire tunnels- none will fit Alex."

"Right then- Maggie, can you get the suit? And Wonder, could you take Alex back to our ship? He knows where it is."

Alex scowled, and the Doctor shook her head. "Maybe next time you can come along, but I _promised _I would keep you in your room and safe. Clearly I've failed step one and I'm not about to let that second bit get away from me. Back to the TARDIS. Talk to Wonder, about Adakite III or something."

Maggie had already flitted away, and Alex began to trudge up the damp, rocky slope towards the glimmer of light above them with Wonder tagging along behind him. The Doctor sat down and waited, fiddling with the fluffy tips of her hair as she peered into the blackness below. "Mind control, of some kind. Something to do with the fire rivers, I need a sample from those," she mumbled.

* * *

Joy didn't know where it was. Did it matter? Nothing really seemed to matter anymore, it was all a sort of fog. A black fog. The Core wasn't talking anymore, but Joy could feel it _everywhere. _It was moving upwards, and so was Joy, in a vague black fog.

There was the Doctor-of-Time, wearing a grimy white heatsuit with a clear viewport. Sweat was dripping down her face. There was an Adakitan behind her. _Maggie. _Who was Maggie? Joy used to know who Maggie was.

Was its name Maggie? That was a human name, wasn't it?

_That Pain Without Which the Joy would be Meaningless._

_I am Joy. No. I am the Core, _Joy thought as she fell into the blackness.

"I am the Core," said the Core. That-Pain-Without-Which-the-Joy-would-be-Meaningless- such a long name- had been running forwards, but now jerked backwards, The Doctor- a Time Lady, how interesting- put a hand on the Adakitan's shoulder.

"Joy?" the Doctor called. The long-named Adakitan echoed. The Core was impatient.

"I will rise," said the Core. "It is time for me to awaken. I have been called."

The Doctor narrowed her eyes. "What are you?" she asked warily. "What happens when you 'rise'?"

"Oh, this world will burn," answered the Core. There was nothing the Doctor could do to stop it, anyway. "I've had to reach out through the rivers, take Adakitan to strengthen myself. The rest of them will be gone soon, too. This planet will be turned to a sea of crystal, without life, but a worthy prize for the Summoner."

The long-named Adakitan was saying something. Oh, it was just calling for Joy. And for The-Vastness-of-Eternity, the one with the pretty name. That one had fought for a long time.

* * *

"The Summoner?" the Doctor asked. It was hot down here, even with the suit on. The strange black husk of Joy was rocking on its feet as it talked, and the Doctor worried that even if they got this _Core _to come out of Joy, it would be too late.

_"Oh Doctor-Time-Lady," _the voice of the Core said, _"The Summoner is he who calls us by name. The Camazotz."_

_Camazotz. _"Who is the Camazotz? What does he look like? And how do you know my-"

_"Time Daughter of the lost planet, Daughter of Gallifrey," _sneered the voice of the Core. A line of black smoke dribbled out of Joy-the-Core's mouth. _"I know what the Summoner has told me. And he knows, he watches the spinning of eternity and the dying of the stars. He is always there, watching. And now he calls."_

"How does he call you?" the Doctor asked. This Summoner was something very old, then. From the sound of it, older than she was.

_"He calls in my mind, he calls my truest name," _the Core said. _"I have protected this planet for so many years, and I grew tired of the indifference of the Adakitan."_

"We don't even know you exist!" Maggie shouted. The Doctor tightened her grip on its shoulder. "Maggie, maybe you should go back up to the surface," she said warningly.

_"The Summoner, he has told me that I must rise. That I will cleanse this world, and when he takes it for his own he will give me a new race, a new Adakitan Empire to protect." _Joy-the-Core turned and began to walk down into the darkness, and was almost instantly swallowed by the shadows. Its parting words whispered through the air.

_"The Summoner can do anything, Doctor-Time-Lady. He could bring back the Time Lords if you so wished."_

The Doctor looked into the gloom. "The Time Lords can never come back," she said. Her voice cracked slightly, and Maggie pressed closer against her leg. A dark red glow was beginning to spread from the bottom of the tunnel.

"What's that?" Maggie asked quietly.

"The Core," said the Doctor. "Run."

As rivulets of fire began to creep up the walls of the tunnel, the Doctor and Maggie began to run upwards, slipping on the loose rocks.

* * *

"What should we do, Doctor?" Maggie asked as they burst out into the daylight. "The fire rivers will flood in a few minutes."

The Doctor paused and looked around. The sun was setting in the blue-green sky, and the people made of light stood on their rooftops and watched the stars come out. There was a soft wind blowing across the tall white grass, bringing a faint smell of flowers. Very far away, someone was singing.

"I don't know," said the Doctor heavily. "It's just- the planet is alive, I've never seen anything like it. And I don't know what to do."

"They say you can do anything," Maggie whispered. The soft glow of her skin began to fade as she looked away. "That you've saved whole civilizations. The Lord of Time."

"I've destroyed a few, too," the Doctor said quietly. She looked up at the sky for a moment. "Gather the Adakitan. As many as will come with you, we're evacuating."

"There's not time to evacuate the whole planet, maybe not even the city!" Maggie said. Looking away, the Doctor began to run to the TARDIS. The ground beneath her feet was growing warm, and the wind had a slight scent of sulphur.

"As many as will come! Get them to my ship, it's blue, it's bigger on the inside, it's in the white field. _Hurry!" _

* * *

_The Doctor runs, just as the Doctor always does. She tries this time. She tries to make amends for a people locked away, erased from existence. But Doctor, last of the children of Gallifrey, how can you _ever _erase that blood? That guilt, it's chasing you, and you'll never, ever, ever get away from it._

_Not in a hundred years, or nine hundred, so Doctor, Gallifrey-Doctor, Fire and Ice and Rage, you'd better keep running._

_This little help, a dozen or so of the Adakitan, it won't wash away any of that blood. Not ever, Doctor._

Why are you in my head

_Hello, Last of the Time Lords. The Core is right. I can let you bring back the Lords of Time. I can destroy your enemies, finally and forever. The Daleks, the destroyers. They call you Destroyer of Worlds, but that does not have to be so. I can make it so that it was never so._

Go away go away

_How many did you save from the fire? How many of the people made of light? Enough? Not enough. One drop of the blood of Gallifrey._

nononogoawaygoawaygetoutoutout

_Why? Time Lord Victorious, do I not offer enough?_

OUT NOW OUT OUT OUT

* * *

Somewhere in the vastness of time, the Doctor slumped against the TARDIS console and began to cry. The tears were hot. It had been a long time. She thought in simple sentences, regaining her stability. Alex's footsteps sounded on the ground and the Doctor straightened.

"I'll drop you off at home, in your room. Your mum must be worried, don't you think?" the Doctor asked. "Maybe next time I'll take you to a nicer planet. One that isn't about to explode."

"I left my book there," Alex said. "I hadn't finished it yet."

The Doctor smiled, wiping away the tears with the back of her hand. "You know what, let's visit that planet now. I'll drop off the Adakitan first, there's no point in dragging them along. And then we'll have a good vacation, and I'll buy you a new copy of _The Neverending Story."_

* * *

**Review please! I'm trying a little bit of a different writing thing this week, with some of the changes in POV. I've had some before, but this time I'm working on doing the aliens'. :) It's a little short, I'm sorry.**


	10. The Edge of Time

**Credit for the idea for this episode goes to BlueShadow4!**

**And I've been having a lot of computer troubles so it's a little bit iffy of when I'll be posting for the next few weeks. Love reviews, as always! :P A lot of these characters (Verdance and the Protocols specifically) come from a short story I'm working on for a summer assignment. :)**

* * *

_Project Kakoon Headquarters, Kakoon Asteroid, edge of the Ginnungagap time rift. _

"You hire _Judoon _guards?" the Doctor asked incredulously. The Protocol didn't look around and continued marching forwards, with the Doctor trailing in its wake and inspecting the dimly lit prison.

"Keep up," the Protocol droned. The Doctor smiled. "I've been in lots of high-security prisons. Asteroids seem like a favorite spot, this one's a bit different. Any activity from the innmates and the place falls into the rift, am I right?"

The Protocol nodded once, its head moving jerkily as it continued down the hallway. The dark, helmeted figure moved in a tight lockstep, following the fluorescent line painted along the hallway.

"Does it really, though? Your boss won't want to drop us all straight into the untempered vortex without a good deal of provocation. And I bet it's not a hair-trigger system, maybe just a few cells with the most dangerous characters. Since you're taking me to my cell now, that means it must not have been fully set up, so nothing much will happen if I do _this-"_

Turning sharply, the Doctor started to run down the nearest hallway. Shoving her curly purple hair out of her eyes, the Doctor glanced back at the Protocol. It was moving quickly, but not as quickly as she was. And if she could get off of the fluorescent yellow line, she should be safe from Protocols. The Doctor also wasn't sure if the purple hair was a good look on her. The blue had been much nicer, she'd go back to that as soon as she could get the purple out. Might be a few days, though.

* * *

THE EDGE OF TIME

By Gakorogirl

* * *

There was a flash of light behind the Doctor and she ducked. The wall above her melted with a low hiss.

"Careful with that!" she called back at the Protocol. _Find the third cell in the Green corridor. The door is reinforced with three seals, but nothing the sonic shouldn't be able to handle. -The Far __Traveler_

The note, enclosed with a set of coordinates for the Kakoon Asteroid, had almost certainly been written by Jack, and the Doctor really hoped she wasn't risking this nice regeneration for him. She really did like the fluffy hair, even if she was a bit short.

There was a door in front of her. With a glance back at the Protocol, the Doctor soniced the control panel and the door swung open. After darkting quickly through the door, she closed it again and locked it. As she ran down the corridor, she noticed that the yellow line had changed to green, and slowed down. This hallway was less well-lit, and there were cameras everywhere. Too many to take out one by one with the sonic, so the Doctor waved at the closest one and activated the glass-shattering frequency. With a splintering sound, the camera lenses cracked, and the Doctor hurried on.

The third door was black, not matched with most of the other drab grey doors. Made of some other metal, the Doctor supposed. "Now, who's in here..." she murmured. It took a few moments to open each level of the seal, and the Doctor heard the clang of metal as the Protocols broke down the door from the Yellow hallway.

There didn't seem to be anything in the cell at first, just a small, slumped figure chained to the wall. It looked up, and the Doctor peered into the darkness. "Hello?" she said. "I'm the Doctor, someone sent me to find you."

"Lorel," said the small thing. It sounded female, and as the Doctor's eyes adjusted to the light she could see that she was a dark reddish color, with scales on the face and hands. Small pearly horns poked out of a mane of greasy hair. "Are the Protocols coming?" Lorel asked. "I could fight them, if I were just loose," she added.

"Lorel, have you ever heard of the Far Traveler?" the Doctor asked quickly as the stomping of the Protocols drew closer.

"Yes. I know him," Lorel said. "He mentions you often," she added. "Or someone else with your name, is it a title?"

"Nah, I change how they look," the Doctor said. "Are you afraid of the Protocols, Lorel?"

"No," Lorel answered. "They can't hurt me. They can just keep me in here."

The Protocols were almost to them. One droned, "The Doctor must step away from the cell. You are to be escorted to the Overseer." Shrugging, the Doctor held out her hands. Behind her, Lorel pulled on the chains connecting her to the wall.

"Fine then, maybe I want to talk to the Overseer." the Doctor said. She mouthed, _I'll be back, _at Lorel.

* * *

Verdance the Overseer was perched on his chair when the Protocols escorted a small, dark-skinned woman with bright purple hair into his office. "Is that the Doctor?" he asked.

"She identifies as such. Species seems to be Gallifreyan." the lead Protocol responded. Verdance really needed to find a new voice for the Protocols- one that was still intimidating, but didn't grate on his nerves so much.

The Doctor was talking. "Who is the prisoner in the third cell in the Green corridor?"

Verdance checked his records. "Apparently you were attempting to get to her? She's dangerous, Doctor. But then, so are you. Did you turn yourself in for the purpose of finding her?" Shrugging, the Doctor replied,

"I was told to find the innmate in the third cell in the Green corridor. Turning yourself in is always the fastest way to get in jail. Less troublesome than waiting to be arrested, too."

With a sigh, Verdance pulled up an image of G-312 on the screen embedded in his desk. "A child. Her mother was of an unidentified species, and her father appears to have been of Terran origin. Do Terrans tend to have a high healing factor, Doctor? Perhaps you can help us figure that out."

"A high healing factor?" the Doctor repeated, raising her eyebrows. "I can't think how that would happen."

"Yes, did you not hear me? None of my experiments have managed to isolate anything in her genetic code that would lead to her amazing healing capacities, and I was wondering if it was something I'd overlooked."

"Temporal energy, possibly." the Doctor said. "Did you say you were experimenting on her?"

Verdance shrugged. He didn't see much wrong with his statement, although G-312 was younger than the usual inmates. "She broke onto a space freighter, badly injured several of the crew, and then escaped from any age-appropriate prisons, often leaving fatalities. She's a dangerous criminal, and by the sector laws she has forfeited any right to better treatment."

"That's not a license for you to do _experiments on her,_" the Doctor snapped, and Verdance sighed again. Prisoners were so hard to deal with sometimes, especially the ones who still had their own moral codes.

* * *

Lorel waited for a long time before the burning wreck of a Protocol crashed onto the floor in front of her cell and the Doctor sprinted in, her bomber jacket flapping behind her. "Glad to see they didn't manage to close those doors," the small woman panted as she pointed her glowing instrument at Lorel's chains. The chains snapped open, and Lorel clambered to her feet. Her legs hurt from being used after so long.

"Thanks," she said. There were another couple Protocols striding down the hall towards them, with Verdance the Overseer behind them. Lorel wasn't afraid of the Protocols, but after so many months locked up her Verdance made her skin crawl.

"Doctor?" she asked. "Do you have a way out?"

"Um, I'm really not sure," the Doctor said anxiously. "I can distract Verdance, if you need me to, but the Programs aren't going to fall for it."

"I got the programs."

The Doctor released a crippling burst of noise from the glowing thing, and Verdance curled up and covered his ears with his nobbly talons. Lorel sprinted forwards and grabbed one of the Programs, yanking it off its feet and slamming it to the ground. The next two tried to fire some bursts of energy at her- most missed, but one glanced against her skin and left a blistering line across her shoulder. She grabbed the Protocol responsible and tore its head off, squinting against the shower of sparks. The burn on her shoulder still hurt like hell, but it was less sharp than it had been a few seconds before. Lorel tackled the other Protocol and dug her fingers into its control panel, yanking out handfuls of wire as it crumpled to the ground.

Verdance had climbed to his feet again and was running down the hallway. Lorel laughed and punched the air, and the Doctor grabbed her shoulder and pulled her out the door and down the hall.

Alarms began to blare around them, and the big steel doors began to slide down at the ends of the corridors. "Hurry!" the Doctor shouted.

"Are we falling into the rift?"

"Not yet we aren't," the Doctor said grimly as they ducked under another door. Lorel gasped.

"What about the other prisoners?"

"I can't help them, Lorel, I'm sorry. Here, this is the right corridor," she said, checking the vibrant blue line embedded into the floor. "I really am sorry, though. If it helps, it might be better for them to be torn apart by the temporal energy in the rift than to spend the rest of their lives stuck here."

"Yeah," Lorel said as the Doctor pushed her inside the TARDIS.

* * *

"It's bigger on the inside," said Lorel, as she gazed around at the inside of the TARDIS. One of the Protocols banged on the outside of the door, rocking the interior slightly, and the Doctor started up the launch sequence.

"Yeah." the Doctor answered as she raced around the console. "So, there's some spacetime coordinates I need to drop you off at. Meet up with your dad, I suppose. Or the Far Traveler, or whatever. Seems a bit stilted to me, _The Far Traveler._"

"My dad? How did you know?" Lorel asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Only human I've ever met who had that kind of healing factor," the Doctor laughed, indicating the healed scar along Lorel's shoulder. The rest of her skin was crisscrossed with faint white scar lines. "It wasn't a big secret."

* * *

**Hooray for short chapters! Lorel will be important at some point, if not in the finale of this season then sometime in the next one. I hope you guys liked it, and don't forget to go check out BlueShadow4! **


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